Nobody goes out to the movies anymore, right? With Blu-rays and streaming video and Netflix
and babysitters and parking, it sometimes seems hardly worth the trouble. Theatrical ticket sales continued a
decade-long downward trend in 2013, and Hollywood studios essentially ceased
production of 35mm film prints, endangering the survival of many independent
theaters. What, then, would possess
anyone to embark on the expensive process of renovating, expanding, and/or
remodeling a business that would seem to be past its sell-buy date?

Turns out there are plenty of reasons for Portland's independent
theater operators to invest in improvements. Certainly, the
realization that it's worthwhile to attract as big a slice of the nearly $11 billion box-office pie
as possible plays a part. Higher ticket
prices mean that last year still managed to (barely) set a new record in that
department. But our local cinemas also understand
that they are fortunate to be in a city that values unique experiences
(and that Portlanders need plenty of indoor entertainment much of the year), sometimes so
much that we'll open our wallets for them.

Rachel Barron-Homes, 34, waits for the movie "Her" to start at the Bagdad Theater. Recent renovations at the movie house include refinished art, new rocker seats and a larger screen. Emily Jan/The Oregonian

In the last year,
the Hollywood Theatre installed a magnificent new marquee
following a successful fundraising campaign. The Academy Theater managed
to corral the cash needed to install digital
projectors, ensuring its survival.
One of Oregon's last drive-in theaters, the 99W
Drive-In in Newberg, won a nationwide contest to cover the cost of its own digital conversion. But some other theaters have been even more
ambitious.

In the last few
months, Northwest Portland's venerable Cinema 21,
Southeast's equally classic Bagdad
Theater, and the Omnimax Theater at the Oregon Museum of Science and
Industry have each undergone significant overhauls. Cinema 21 owner Tom Ranieri installed two new
screens while retaining his original auditorium. McMenamins, owners of the Bagdad, installed a
new screen, projector and seating, merging the magnificent architecture of the
1927 theater with 21st-century technology.
OMSI, to the chagrin of some, dismantled its dome-screened Omnimax
facility, but replaced it with a four-story screen and state-of-the
art sound system, excellently dubbed the Empirical Theater.

Kim Young, a 20-year employee at Cinema 21, serves popcorn to moviegoers before a screening of "12 Years A Slave." In late 2013, the theater expanded its space, adding two small auditoriums in addition to its 500-seat main auditorium.Emily Jan/The Oregonian

In each case, fears
that these beloved film-going spots would lose their charm have proved
unfounded. The large-frame IMAX film
format may be gone, but OMSI kept the steeply angled Omnimax seating, which
makes the height of the person sitting in front of you irrelevant. The comprehensive work on the Bagdad now
allows first-run movies at reasonable price, and the new side exits onto Southeast 37 Avenue eliminate the annoying bottlenecks between shows. And Cinema 21 now offers both an expanded
range of concessions and a wider variety of highly acclaimed
films.

Share your thoughts

Seen a movie at the upgraded Bagdad, Cinema 21 or Empirical Theater? Post in the comments on this story to let us know what you think of the renovations.

Having visited all three, I can
testify that the changes have all been for the better (especially at OMSI,
where the eye-popping "Gravity" will be playing at least through January 23).

If as is likely, the
movie theater business continues its slow decline, it'll be important to
remember that, just like when CD sales fell off, or DVDs, or books, the
lumbering mega-chains sometimes stumbled, but nimble independents with
personality and taste scurried around their dinosaur legs like early
mammals. And by constantly looking to
improve, businesses like these enterprising movie theaters should be among them.